|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
AFEWERK
TEKLE, Ethiopia’s
leading artist, was born on October
22nd, 1932 from Woyzero Feleketch
Yematawork and Ato Tekle Moamo in
the old historic city of Ankober in
Shoa Province, Ethiopia. As a school-boy
in the then recently liberated Ethiopia,
Afewerk revealed an intense artistic
interest in life around him. He was
ever found busy with pencil or pen
sketching and drawing, even during
chemistry, mathematics or history
classes.
Sent to England in 1947 to become
a mining engineer, his artistic talent
was soon perceived. He was accepted
at the Central School of Arts and
Crafts in London and later went to
the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University
of London, the famous “Slade”.
While studying in England he made
several artistic pilgrimages to the
continent of Europe.
|
|
| |
|
On
the completion of his studies he returned
to Addis Ababa where he held a one-man
exhibition at the Municipality Hall
in 1954. It was the first significant
art exhibition of post-war Ethiopia. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Soon
after his exhibition he left Ethiopia
for a study tour in Italy, France,
Spain, Portugal and Greece. In addition
to these countries, he carried out
various studies in England. He also
made a special study of the Ethiopian
illustrated manuscripts in the British
Library, the Bibliothẻque
Nationale in Paris and the Vatican
Library, thereby gaining a deeper
knowledge of his own artistic heritage.
After two years of this extensive
study, Afewerk, by now a well–equipped
artist, returned with full confidence
to his native land, to tackle the
task ahead.
On his arrival in Ethiopia, Afewerk
opened his studio in the National
Library of Ethiopia. Soon afterwards
he was given his first challenging
commission by the Ethiopian Government:
the decoration of St. George’s
Cathedral, one of the capital’s
two most important religious edifices,
where he worked on murals and mosaics
for three and a half years.
While working on St. George’s
Cathedral he realized his first
important stained glass windows
for the Military Academy in Harrar
depicting four of Ethiopia’s
military heroes as well as producing
his first monumental sculpture.
Though his interest in sculpture
was second only to that in painting,
he conceived many sculptural designs
of the heroic people of Ethiopia.
For various reasons only one was
actually realized: the equestrian
stature of Ras Makonnen in Harrar.
During his visit to Harrar he was
so impressed by this picturesque
old city that he produced no less
than thirty paintings, some of which
are now well known. The artist in
this period and the ensuing years
also gave a number of exhibitions
which did much to enliven the capital’s
artistic life.
The years from 1959 marked an intensification
as well as a diversification of
this remarkable artist’s creative
talent. His reputation grew not
only within the country but also
internationally as his mastery over
so many media was established. His
drawings, paintings, murals, mosaics,
stained-glass windows and sculptures,
his designs for stamps, playing
cards, posters, flags and national
ceremonial dresses, all went to
build up his position as Ethiopia’s
foremost artist.
|
The
playing cards were of particular
interest in that they embodied
a series of little-known Ethiopian
motifs, some of them dating
back to pre-Christian times
and thus introduced Ethiopia’s
artistic heritage to the card-playing
public.
It is interesting to mention
here that Afewerk designed his
own house, studio and gallery,
known as Villa “Alpha”.
He was architecturally inspired
by his own cultural heritage,
especially by ancient Aksum,
the mediaeval castles of Gondar
and the old walled city of Harrar.
The artist’s complex of
buildings was conceived as a
whole in 1959, but was realized
in stages over a period of fifteen
years, as a third of the proceeds
of every exhibition abroad was
devoted to the construction
of the work.
His 1961 retrospective exhibition
in Addis Ababa was a major landmark
in the country’s artistic
life. One of the paintings exhibited
is the now well-known Maskal
Flower which made its debut
on this occasion, and has since
been exhibited in the USSR,
the USA, and at the Festival
of Negro Arts in 1965 at Dakar,
Senegal. In this period when
Africans were fighting for their
independence and working for
the unity of the continent Afewerk
contributed in his works towards
this ideal.
His paintings included titles
such as “Backbones of
African Civilization”
“African Movement”,
“African Atmosphere”
and “African Unity”,
and for Expo 67 in Montreal,
Canada, “Africa’s
Heritage” which in now
in the permanent collection
of the National Museum of Ethiopia.
After many studies he produced
over ten designs for an African
Unity emblem and flag. Afewerk’s
internationally famous stained-glass
windows confronting the visitor
in the entrance of Africa Hall,
the headquarters of the United
Nations Economic Commission
for Africa, is one of his greatest
achievements; it shows his mastery
on a gigantic scale (150sq.m.)
of a medium which has inspired
artists ever since the Middle
Ages, and it embodies in its
three panels Africa’s
sorrowful past, present struggle,
and its high aspirations for
the future.
In 1964 he became the first
winner of the Haile Sellassie
I Prize for Fine Arts. The citation
described him as a “versatile
and disciplined artist”.
And the prize was awarded “for
his outstanding drawings, paintings,
landscapes, and portraits which
eloquently express his particular
world environment, and for his
contribution in being among
the first to introduce contemporary
techniques to Ethiopian subject
matter and content.” |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
The
artist as a young boy
with his uncle, at age
2 1/2 |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
The
artist wearing his public
school uniform in the
UK
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | |
